Portable or wearable medical devices are used to treat or alleviate a number of illnesses. Examples of such medical devices include injection devices, infusion devices, blood glucose meters and dialysis devices.
The number of injectable medicaments that are self-administered by patients is constantly growing. Insulin is perhaps the most well-known example of a medicament that the patient injects himself, but in addition also antibodies, growth hormone, EPO, and certain chemotherapy drugs are self-administered by the patient by injection.
Injection is most frequently done with a handheld injection device, which typically is used from one to six times per day (as opposed to an infusion device that continuously deliver a medicament).
Such medicaments can also be delivered by a portable infusion pump that is more or less permanently connected to the patient.
Dialysis can be carried out with portable or wearable dialysis machines that are carried by the patients.
It is of great importance, for patient safety reasons, that portable or wearable medical devices work in a correct and dependable manner. At the same time, such devices, which are carried by the users at all times, may be exposed to extreme temperatures or humidity, or shock (if the user drops the device), or other harmful conditions which may damage the device.
Such medical devices may malfunction from time to time, and they may then need service or replacement.